You are here

Wintry Weather Blasts Fort Smith, Much Of State

Wintry Weather Blasts Fort Smith, Much Of State

BRIAN D. SANDERFORD TIMES RECORD Road crews head up the hill on Horan Drive in Fort Smith as they sand area roads on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013. Road conditions are expected to worsen overnight and through today.

Wintry Weather Blasts Fort Smith, Much Of State

BRIAN D. SANDERFORD TIMES RECORD Vehicles travel along Massard Road as rain and sleet begins to fall in Fort Smith on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013. Road conditions are expected to worsen overnight and through today.

Times Record Staff

Following record-breaking high temperatures on Wednesday, temperatures plummeted Thursday and were predicted to drop further as a winter blast made its way across Arkansas.

Ice storm warnings were issued for most counties across the state as Arkansans were warned to prepare for hazardous road conditions and possible power outages.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service said Thursday that as much as a half-inch of ice is expected in some areas, as well as significant accumulations of snow and sleet.

Sleet and ice were reported throughout western Arkansas during the day Thursday.

By afternoon Thursday, Fort Smith street crews remained on standby to clear roads and bridges.

“It’s been raining, but the temperature is still right around 32,” Deputy City Administrator Jeff Dingman said just after 2 p.m. “We haven’t really seen a lot of spots where it’s iced over. The ground still seems warm enough to prevent freezing.”

Crews will be on call day and night, Dingman added.

“(Fort Smith) could see less than an inch of sleet and snow accumulation Friday, depending on how it falls,” said Peter Snyder of the National Weather Service in Tulsa. “If it’s more in the form of ice, you will have a more dense cover of snow-cone-like ice on Friday, mixed between sleet and snow. If more falls as snow it’ll be a little thicker, but there will be a covering on roadways no matter what, with the temperature expected to be 17 degrees by 5 p.m. Friday.”

Gov. Mike Beebe said after a speech to more than 100 attending a Compressed Natural Gas Conference in North Little Rock that state departments and agencies were preparing for the storm. He urged residents to do the same.

“Everybody has got their eye on it,” he said of the storm. “I hear grocery stores are stocking up and running out of bread and milk and other (items). People need to be prepared. If it’s not as bad as everybody is thinking, fine, we’ll just have a bunch of stale bread, but we need to be prepared.”

The governor said the state Highway and Transportation Department had its road crews ready should roads ice over.

“We’re doing everything we possibly can,” Beebe said, adding his office was also monitoring the weather to see whether it should direct employees to stay home Friday or come in to work a few hours later.

“We’ll try to make those decisions sufficiently in advance of what may happen so that people can be safe,” he said.

The wintry blast that hit the state Thursday came just a day after Little Rock hit 77 degrees, breaking its daily temperature high. The city’s high temperature today is expected to be 32 degrees, according to the weather service.

Central Arkansas Water offered tips on how people can keep their indoor and outdoor pipes from freezing.

“Customers should leave a thick stream of water running from the cold-water tap when temperatures dip below freezing because moving water is less likely to freeze,” said John Tynan, a spokesman for CAW.

Outdoor water hoses also should be disconnected and water should be drained from automatic sprinkler systems to reduce the possibility of freezing, the utility said.

Snyder said a warm-up is not expected until next week.

“It won’t get above freezing until about Wednesday,” he said. “You’ll have a sunny day Tuesday with a high near 26, and there will be some melting and drying, but be cautious on the roadways because black ice will occur in the morning time.”